Teachers’ union demand Mumbai University to revoke autonomous status of Pendharkar College in Dombivli
In an unprecedented move, the 50-year-old Dombivli college decided to close its aided section earlier this year in June.
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A senior Mumbai University official said that the administration will look into the complaint by MUST. (Express image/ file)Months after Dombivli’s K V Pendharkar College, a popular government-aided institution decided to convert to a completely unaided educational institute by closing down its aided sections; a teachers’ union has urged Mumbai University to revoke its status of Autonomous College due to violation of norms by varsity and University Grants Commission (UGC).
The Maharashtra Union of Secular Teachers (MUST) on Sunday wrote to the Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University, Dr. Ravindra Kulkarni, with a complaint letter listing various violations by the college, such as shuttering the aided section, abruptly stopping the research wing and NCC wing, not following prescribed rules in formation of various academic bodies and also not having active statutory bodies mandated by the UGC such as Anti-ragging Cell, Internal Complaint Committee among others.
The management of the college however has refuted all allegations.
In an unprecedented move, the 50-year-old Dombivli college decided to close its aided section earlier this year in June. An aided college receives a salary grant from the state government, whereas an unaided section does not receive any government aid.
The move drew the ire of staff, students, alumni and others from the varsity circle as the college forced teaching and non-teaching staff appointed under the aided section to stop working. Since then, MUST, on behalf of the staff, has been approaching authorities seeking intervention. Earlier, MUST had approached the Director of Higher Education, Government of Maharashtra complaining that the college abruptly closed the aided section without permission.
A show-cause notice was sent to the college in June, following this complaint. In their latest complaint, MUST has made more allegations such as that the college did not conduct recruitment on 22 newly sanctioned teaching posts by the Government of Maharashtra in the year 2023, and that it stopped admissions to its research centre as well as fails to provide any information on courses and fee-structure on its website as mandated by UGC norms.
Refuting all allegations by the complaint letter, Prabhakar Desai, President of the Dombivli Shikshan Prasarak Mandal which runs the college, said, “There is no violation of norms in college.” Further adding that the matter is sub-judice, he also said, “To increase the academic standards of the college, the management has taken the decision to close down the aided section because the staff appointed by the government was not working at its full capacity impacting the standards of the college. Even as the aided section is closed, the college continues to charge fees as per the original fee structure in line with the aided sections.”
A senior Mumbai University official said that the administration will look into the complaint by MUST. “We will take action as per the prescribed regulations,” said the official.
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